This invention relates to a card type peripheral apparatus.
Conventionally, a card type peripheral apparatus called PC card which is inserted into a card slot of a personal computer or the like is used.
In recent years, together with downsizing and processing of an increased speed of a personal computer, an Express Card (old name: NEWCARD) has been proposed as a card type peripheral apparatus having an outside size smaller than that of the PC card and capable of implementing high-speed transfer of data (refer to, for example, “To downsize and speed up the PC card: the new standards “NEWCARD” support the evolution of personal computers”, NIKKEI Electronics, Jun. 9, 2003, pp. 67-76: hereinafter referred to as Non-Patent Document 1).
Where an external equipment which has a card slot into which the Express Card is to be inserted and removed is a small electronic equipment such as, for example, a portable telephone set, a digital still camera or the like, although the outside size of the Express Card is smaller than that of the PC card, the Express Card still has a length of 75 mm, a width of 34 mm and a thickness of 5 mm. Therefore, the Express Card has a disadvantage in loading into a small electronic equipment.
Therefore, a new card type peripheral apparatus is demanded which has an outside size smaller than that of the Express Card and can be inserted into a slot for the Express Card.
Further, such a small card type peripheral apparatus as described above is sometimes inserted not only into such a small electronic equipment as described above but also into a slot of and used with a comparatively large external equipment such as a personal computer. Therefore, it is significant that such a small card type peripheral apparatus as described above can be removably loaded readily and with certainty into a slot provided in a small electronic equipment as well as into a slot of an external equipment.